Eric Rollman Is new Marvel Animation President

Industry veteran Eric Rollman has been promoted to president of Marvel Animation. Rollman, who was the company’s exec VP of home entertainment and TV production, will oversee Marvel’s animation slate, as well as partnerships with key broadcasters and home entertainment oufits. He will report to Simon Philips, Marvel Entertainment Intl.’s president.

Rollman first joined Marvel four years ago to support the company’s agreement with Lionsgate to develop, produce and distribute made for DVD animated features based on popular characters from the Marvel Universe. Rollman has since led all aspects of the major commitment to original home entertainment programming, including development and production. To date, the Marvel DVD line has delivered four best-selling titles, The Ultimate Avengers I and II, Doctor Strange and The Invincible Iron Man.

On the television front, Rollman oversees Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Wolverine and The X-Men‘both of which will air on Nicktoons in early 2009. shows will premiere in early 2009.

“We have seen tremendous success in our slate of animated features and television series with our strategic partners playing a key role across the board,’ says Rollman. ‘I look forward to continuing to manage those relationships while nurturing new opportunities for our continuing growth.

“Eric’s contributions to Marvel have been invaluable. Animation is a major priority for the company and affords us a huge opportunity both to expand the presence of some of our top Super Hero franchises and to present a powerful platform to introduce additional characters from our renowned library in a compelling fashion,” notes Philips.

Before joining Marvel, Rollman spent over 15 years as a key executive at Saban Entertainment/Fox Family Worldwide ending his tenure as President of Fox Family Productions with its sale to ABC/Disney in 2001. Rollman is a graduate of Indiana University with a B.A.A in Telecommunications.

In other related news, Marvel Entertainment has tapped Sony Pictures’ digital veteran Ira Rubenstein to head up its online and mobile enterprises. Based out of New York, he will lead that division as executive VP of Marvel’s newly formed global digital media group and oversee Marvel.com and MarvelKids.com, and the creation of original animated content, strategic partnerships and mobile and casual games.